Evolution Miniatures are
well known for their nicely sculpted works but I have to confess I had never
put them together before – I thought for this review I should not just take
pictures of parts - and to know what I was talking about I should indeed really
see how they are to model and what the finished product looked like as that is
the review I would like to see.

It is good to see soldiers who are almost idle – not shooting
pointing or running – so these caught my eye straight away. I needed some
soldiers to fill in my diorama I am planning in a warehouse – would I like
these enough to use??? Let’s look at the quality..

These figures come in an attractive little box with the painted figures on the front as boxart. The figure itself comes in a zip-loc bag to keep him all together. The resin inside is a medium grey colour and is easy to
cut. The smell isn’t too bad and the joints to the casting blocks are all in
sensible places and only finely connected. You will just need some snips and a
knife and superglue to assemble these. The resin is also bubble free and the
sculpting is very fine. With details like fingers and noses and eyes well done –
let’s look at them all individually.

German Tank Crewman
WWII - Set 1 EM 35068

This crewman is seen looking casual with his hands in his
long trouser pockets. The figure is made up of four parts all attaché to
casting blocks – I’ll go through each of them in order with some pictures to
illustrate each one..

The head is wearing a forage cap on his head with a tilt to
the right and his ears and hair finely detailed. His expression is almost thoughtful
one as his mouth is closed. He had high cheekbones and a strong chin. One thing
I have noticed which will come into play later is the joint on the neck which
is not really even..

The torso of this Panzer crewman wears a baggy pair of
trousers that are loose all the way down to a quite open leg. They top off his
standard issue boots quite realistically. The high pants are detailed with many
buttons for the braces these soldiers often wore but in this case aren’t there.
The long sleeved shirt on this soldier is open at the neck. Especially from the
back the wrinkles in these pants looks great.

The two arms of the figure come on the casting block and are
easily removed which is nice. The sleeves of this long shirt are rolled up at
the fore-arm. The joints at the shoulders and wrists are not as flat and so I was
worried about the fit - let’s take a look.

The parts all separated from the casting block very easily –
the joints were my main concern though. The two arms joined into the pockets
well, no issue – and the shoulder joints went together ok as well – the head
though was another thing.

The neck joint was unevenly joined to the casting block and
where to remove it proved the only problem with this figure. I carved what I thought
was the proper place to remove it and joined it with some superglue to the
torso – it did leave a little slit on the throat which can be filled with superglue
and then painted to get rid of it. I don't paint to show any possible gaps in
my review so you can see the slit – it will however be invisible under paint.

German Tank Crewman
WWII - Set 2 EM 35071

Looking very studious and very Germanic indeed is this
tanker in uniform shirt and pants sucking on a long pipe as was the fashion of
older troopers and servicemen alike. On his waist he carries a P08 pistol
holster on his rear left hip on his enlisted servicemen’s belt.

This figure is made up of four parts again all attached to
some casting blocks but only fairly thinly so there isn’t any major removal
surgery to go on. The points are also in sensible places to be sanded as well. On
to the individual parts then, starting with the head…

The head of this tank man is almost flat nosed and a lot
more thickly cheeked (if there is such a disposition) and he looks a little bit
of a surly character. The neck again has a sort of funny join that left me a
little puzzled as to where to make the cut.

The torso shows the tank crewman on the same long pants with baggy legs and
buttons around the waist, though this time there is a servicemen’s loose belt almost
slung around the figure’s waist. The tanker again wears an open necked long
sleeve shirt with rolled up sleeves. The left arm is holding his right waist in
a resting position. The neck is almost hollow ready to accept the head joint.

The right arm is bent at the elbow and holding a pipe in his
hands. His P08 pistol holster which looks pretty big but it does in real life
as well. There is a little hole on the inside of the arm for the tank man’s hand
to slip under which is smart engineering. The joint on the arm is flat with no
locating pin but it looks easy enough to join. Let’s build him and see.

Well he didn’t go together too badly. I didn’t have a lot of
time to join these three up but he was an easy cut – sand and fit. Again there is a slight gap in the neck you
need to fill in with superglue, and the arm that holds the pipe can wander a
little high above the mouth, this was because the small recess to fit the hand
underneath his arm needs a little more work hollowing out – once this is done
there won’t be a little gap when looking from the back under his right arm
either.

German Tank Crewman WWII - Set 3 EM 35072

Looking like he is in a very complimentary mood whilst
sitting and holding onto his forage cap in his hands whilst he scans on to
something down the road. This soldier has a very flat bottom – it looks like he
is meant to be sitting on something flat like the tank turret he is pictured on.

When looking at his head he is a very strong cheek boned –
lick back haired Aryan looking posterboy! He has the short back and sides with
longish hair that was the style in Europe back then. His hair and facial
features will paint up very well as the sculpting subtly picks up the detail. He
looks slightly brooding in his demeanour doesn’t he?

The torso is bent at the waist over forward, and again wears
the standard long baggy pants and long sleeve shirt rolled up at the fore-arms.
The pant legs sit up nicely showing off his boots (you can even see the laces) and
are pants are baggy at the rear end – as they would be in real life – as well as this I noted there are joints for the
arms neat on each side of the torso that need a slight trim to make flat.

The two arms come on a casting block of their own which
again is only finely joined and easy to clean up - the shirt sleeves look very
good rolled up and wrinkled down this soldier’s arms. Of which the bottoms of
the arms and hands look realistic and detailed – a wristwatch on the left and
the soldier’s fold up forage cap in his other hand. The joints to the torso are
flat. – How does he go together?

Well easily is the answer – again there is a slight slit in
the neck where he is joined but he sits down very well (no body roll he he) and
he looks like his legs are suspended and the body language is just right –
casual and watchful. The joints in the arms fit well here. I like him the most
of the three I looked at here.

The sculpting on these three tank men is first class –
though the neck joins on all three really need to be carefully managed to get
the best out of them, and maybe Evolution could do with making the joints into
a “V” shaped joint which slips straight into the shirt neck. This is the one thing
I would change with these figures.

I think that once the
one gap in the neck is filled that they are all understated but well sculpted additions
to your workshop scene, their natural poses and wrinkled work wear look the
part. These are not “in action” poses and sometimes you really need these – not
every diorama shows soldiers fighting and the rare ones that do like this are
great to have in your stash. I like these figures very much Ill be using them
in my panzer workshop scene. Well done!